"American Gangster"
Is it that hard to believe that this might possibly be Jay's best effort since 2001's Blueprint? Production-wise he made some great unorthodox choices. Most hip hop heads probably scratched their heads when they heard that Jay enlisted Jermaine Dupri and Diddy to produce the bulk of the album. No Kanye? No Premo? And it's supposed to be a marriage of Reasonable Doubt and Blueprint? Well, somehow it works. The Hitmen were a very nice addition. They have that cinematic sound that you might remember from Life After Death and the other Badboy 90s classics (see Black Rob's Life Story, Diddy's No Way Out etc). Nowhere is this more apparent than on the album's opener and instant classic "Pray." For all of those that Jay referred to in Fade to Black, saying "Ya'll don't know about my storytelling ability." Well, if you didn't know, now you know. "American Dreamin" is a very capable follower, as Jay dreams of hustlin' over a crooning Marvin Gaye sample. "No Hook" plays like "Dreamin"s dark, bluesy brother with Jay continuing to deliver scathing verses while managing to step out of character to take a shot at "Dehaven for caving".
"Success" with Nas is just that. While some might take issue with Jay's liberal borrowing of Eminem's line from "I'm Back" it sounds more fierce coming from the Jay on this No I.D beat. Nas' verse doesn't disappoint but definitely plays second fiddle to the BK emcee. With lines like "Broad daylight I'll off your on switch/You're not too bright, Goodnight, Long Kiss/ Bye Bye, my reply Bla Bla/ Blast burner then pass burner to Ta Ta/" it's hard not to compare this track to "Brooklyn's Finest."
There are some points that are worth criticizing though. The most obvious being the Lil' Wayne-assisted "Hello Brooklyn," which is out of place on this album and has a wack beat and wack verses by both. All of the buildup to this collaboration only adds to the disappointment. I assume it will be an entirely different experience being bumped with the bass all the way up out of somebody's whip but that's not what I expect from Jay. The Dj Toomp-produced "Say Hello" is nothing too special either, with a chorus from Jay that seems like it would be better suited for Young Jeezy or T.I. "American Gangsters" is decent but the beat has a lot of similarities to another Just Blaze production, Kingdom Come's "Show Me What You Got" an album which Jay would be better served not emulating.
Of course, the real question is how does this stack up against Jay-z's best albums, Reasonable Doubt and Blueprint. The fact is even in it's striking similarities to his best works, AG is not RD or BP and will likely not have the influence or timeless status of either album. That being said, it's still a great hip hop album. More thoughtful and musically advanced than 50 Cent's Curtis. More gritty and hip-hop than Kanye's Graduation in its glorification of the hustler and gangster bravado. Brooklyn Stand up!
4.5 mics
5 Standouts
1. Pray
2. Success (featuring Nas)
2. Success (featuring Nas)
3. Ignorant Sh*t (featuring Beanie Siegel)
4. No Hook
5. American Dreamin
